Jennifer Lopez is under fire for performing at the birthday party of an authoritarian leader in Central Asia.

On Saturday, the former American Idoljudge performed “Happy Birthday Mr. President” at the lavish celebration for Turkmenistan leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. The problem? The leader is rumored to be guilty of committing human rights violations.

A representative for Jennifer said she wouldn’t have agreed to the performance had she known about the regime’s history of human rights violations. Turkmenistan has been called one of the world’s most oppressive regimes by Human Rights Watch.

Here's the full statement:

Jennifer Lopez and several other artists were invited and performed at a private corporate event for the China National Petroleum Corporation that was presented to their local executives in Turkmenistan.

This was not a government sponsored event or political in nature. The event was vetted by her representatives, had there been knowledge of human right issues of any kind, Jennifer would not have attended.

The China National Petroleum Corporation made a last minute ‘birthday greeting’ request prior to Jennifer taking the stage. This was not stipulated in her contract but she graciously obliged the China National Petroleum Corporation request.

What do you think? Should Jennifer be blamed for performing for the foreign leader or is it just a big misunderstanding?